Surely I'm not the only one who finds it a little bit chuckle-worthy that Saskatchewan's weather tracking equipment near Regina has been only 50 to 60 per cent efficient over the past several months because of weather-related breakdowns.
I find that kind of thing amusing and it also semi explains most of the horrible weather prediction efforts we have been receiving.
Weather engaging instrumentation that is befouled and disabled by weather events strikes me as being funny, but then maybe it's just me.
That explains the hilarity of the past few months when we've been in the centre of a winter storm, only to be informed by the weather prognosticators that some light snow fall might be on the way. Or we're drying out from a sudden rain and hail event, only to be informed a half-hour later that perhaps some moisture is on our horizon.
Is it because Saskatchewan's weather prediction equipment is apparently installed somewhere north of Yellowknife while the satellite sending stuff near Regina is out of service or being bothered by weather? Could be.
You would think that this type of equipment would be housed in black-box type materials like they have in airplanes in the event of traumatic events ... not cereal boxes.
But then what would I know? The genial folks at Environment Canada will no doubt have the answers. They may not have semi-accurate weather predictions, but they'll have answers and explanations as to what happened, but not so much about what is about to happen regarding weather...
My suggestion is that you keep one eye keyed on the sky in whatever direction the wind is blowing and make your own call.
Speaking of weather-related events, I had the occasion to journey to east central Saskatchewan a short while back and rest-assured, we're not the only ones suffering from too much water. The Qu'Appelle Valley is pretty well full, folks. The valley floor still looks menacing, not pastoral and those washed out grid roads are everywhere, not just southeast Saskatchewan. I also talked with more than a few farmers from around the province, and while the southeast producers have suffered the most, these other guys and girls are also wondering out loud how they're going to get out on the land again to bring in what is left of their crops once they have matured. We have a soggy Saskatchewan out there dear diary and the old natural evaporation trick isn't working out too well.
This situation, of course, leads us to also wonder just what kind of emergency response plan has been put in place by our junior and senior governments.
We have been hearing for months now that Saskatchewan will be just fine because we have this $700 million rainy day fund tucked away somewhere. Well, I hope that fund has been earning six per cent interest for the past two years because it's going to take a lot more than $700 million to fix this water logged dilemma we're in right now. We understand the federal government is also standing by with assistance packages of unknown quality and quantity, which is pretty normal for them.
So our fields are drowned out, highways have been under water for two months, homes have been destroyed, mould has ruled and ruined the day. Trenching and silt removal has become the new pastime since golf and baseball can no longer be played because the fields have been destroyed and still our citizens soldier on because damn it, we like it here and it's still the best place to be once we've considered all the alternatives.
